The present invention relates to a refrigerator door assembly and more particularly to a structure and method of assembly that will strengthen the door and keep the door on a flat plane during the foaming operation to thermally insulate the door and later when food and beverage items are stored in the door.
It is common in household refrigerators to have storage provisions in the access doors. As the size of the refrigerator increases the amount of food items carried by the door also increases. Recently the trend has been to provide a deep door wherein bins which carry the food and beverage items on the inside of the door are hung on tracks in the door and these bins are designed to extend outwardly from the door to provide a larger amount of storage space. For economic reasons it is also desirable that the outer metal shell of the door be reduced in thickness and the inner door which is usually made of vacuum formed plastic also be reduced in thickness. Therefore, it is desirable to compensate for the increased weight of the food and beverage items stored on the door and the reduced material thicknesses from which the door is made by providing a rigidifying structure to the door in such a manner that the door will be in a flat plane and not distorted subsequently during the polyurethane foaming operation to thermally insulate the door and later when the door is put into use by loading the door with food and beverage items.
By this invention a refrigerator door assembly, particularly a fresh food compartment door of a refrigerator, is strengthened and holds the door in plane during the foaming operation to provide thermal insulation to the door, and subsequently when the door is loaded with food and beverage items.